Powering Student Projects: Inside DigiKey’s Global Back-to-School Giveaway

In this Student Circuit special of Electronic Specifier Insights, guest host Cheryl Miles talks with YC Wong, Global Academic Program Director at DigiKey, about the company’s annual Back to School Giveaway for engineering students.

Wong explains how the giveaway is designed to equip students with practical, professional-grade tools for their first serious electronics projects — from workbench essentials like the Åvvon LED lamp, VeitMüller wire stripper, and Adafruit LadyAda electronics toolkit, to clever measurement gear such as the Pocket Innovations all-in-one digital tool and DigiKey’s famously useful ruler.

The conversation explores why a solid bench power supply (like the Teledyne LeCroy unit awarded to the grand prize winner) is often the most overlooked but critical part of a student lab, and how high-quality tools can support everything from capstone projects and early prototypes to future startup ideas.

Wong also highlights DigiKey’s broader commitment to education through free online resources, documentation, videos, calculators, and the DigiKey TechForum community, and encourages students worldwide with a university email address to enter and to keep coming back each academic year.